The United States and Japan will step up their defence cooperation to deal with the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea as tensions in East Asia remain high, officials from the two allies said on Thursday.

Economic data, election hold back jobs

Business hiring intentions are subdued due to conflicting economic messages and uncertainty over the outcome of the upcoming federal election, a survey says.

The Manpower Employment Outlook survey's hiring intentions index for the June quarter was a seasonally adjusted four per cent, down five percentage points from the March quarter.

As well, the net employment index, based on the intentions of 2200 employers, was eight percentage points lower than a year earlier.

Manpower group managing director for Australia and New Zealand Lincoln Crawley said there was a lot of caution in the employment market.

"These conflicting indicators, coupled with the uncertainty an election year brings, are creating caution in the job market, as employers take a wait and see attitude to hiring," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Among the states, Western Australia has seen the biggest drop in hiring intentions over the past year, with a 15 per cent decline.

"This is the first time we have seen Western Australia's employment outlook fall behind the other regions since 2010, suggesting the recent rally in commodities and positive activity in China is yet to flow through to jobs in resources," Mr Crawley said.